Sacré bleu! The French Interior Ministry is reporting the country's emerging New Year's Eve pastime of burning cars for fun has resulted in 1,147 torched automobiles, up 30.64% from last year.

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Police arrested 288 people during the "festivities," a number also up from last year's 259 arrests. As a result of his 35,000-strong nationwide police force being incapable of maintaining order, model-marrying French President Nicolas Sarkozy is suggesting those minors convicted of setting cars on fire be stripped of their licenses until they pay back the damages caused by their actions. Since most of these people are youths and France has a pretty strong public transit system, we're assuming this plan will have a huge impact on next year's shenanigans. [International Herald Tribune]